


Pride and Prejudice and Egos

by Adlocked



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes (Downey films), Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: F/M, Gen, pride and prejudice au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-16 19:00:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5837296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adlocked/pseuds/Adlocked





	1. A Want For A Wife

It is a universal truth known by all that a man possessing a great wealth must also desire a wife.  
  
However, the feelings or views of the man upon first entering a neighbourhood are little known. Only that _he is in obvious want of a wife_ is the single thought of all families and therefore, he is considered to be the rightful property of someone or other for the single benefit of themselves and their daughters.  
  
"My dear Mr. Adler," said his wife to her husband one day. "Have you heard that Baskerville Park is let at last?"  
  
Mr. Adler replied that he had not though he knew it had been, but he did not particularly care for gossip; even from his wife.  
  
"But it is," She insisted, "For Mrs. Turner has just been here and she told me all about it."  
  
Mr. Adler made no answer, realizing that his wife cared not for whether or not he knew something, she only wanted to talk about what she had heard to anyone who was near. No doubt their children would certainly hear this story several times before the week ended.  
  
"Do you not want to know who has taken it?" Mrs. Adler cried impatiently.  
  
"You want to tell me and I have no objection to hearing it." He sighed, turning to look at his wife and waiting for her to continue.  
  
Mrs. Adler seemed to take that as an invitation and continued on with her story.  
  
"Well, my dear, Mrs. Turner says that Baskerville has been taken by a young man with a large fortune from the north of England; that he came down Monday in a Rolls-Royce to see the place and was so taken by it, he bought it immediately. She also says that he's to move in before November and some of his servants are to arrive before the end of next week." Mrs. Adler's voice was hurried and breathless, as though if she didn't spill it all right away she'd burst. Which Mr. Adler quite feared he would.  
  
"What's his name?" He turned more to look at her, seeing that had indeed asked the right question by the way her face light up.  
  
"Watson." She leaned forward, prompting him to ask his next question rather exasperated.  
  
"Is he married or single?"  
  
Mrs. Adler laughed and clapped her hands together, beaming ear-to-ear.  
  
"Oh, single for certain my dear! A single man with a large fortune of seventy-five or hundred thousand pounds a year. What a fine thing for a girls!"  
  
Her words now confused Mr. Adler, who was trying to figure out just what this Watson character had to do with his daughters.  
  
"How so? How can it affect them?"  
  
"My dear Mr. Adler," replied his wife. "How can you be such a tease! You must know that I am thinking of marrying one of them to him." Mrs. Adler explained simply, hands resting in her lap.  
  
"Is that the reason he moved in here?" Mr. Adler frowned, wondering if that was the whole reason Mr. Watson had decided to buy Baskerville and suddenly starting to worry for his daughters.  
  
" _Reason_? Ha!" Mrs. Adler cried, laughing and shaking her greying hair. "How can you ask such a silly question such as reason? But it's very likely that with a little help, he may fall in love with one of them. And you _must_ help by visiting him as soon as he moves in and mentioning just how beautiful our daughters are so that he is tempted to see them for himself." Mrs. Adler decided, jaw lifting up as she stared at her husband with urgent expectation.  
  
Mr. Adler merely scoffed, feeling somewhat coerced into this scheme his wife concocted.  
  
"I see no reason for my going..." He stated slowly, watching her carefully as he continued to speak. "You and the girls can visit, or better yet, just send the girls. If you go with them, Mr. Watson might think you another sister and wish to pursue you."  
  
He knew when he wished to have his wife listen to him, it was always best to compliment her. She was more willing to hear his thoughts when he spoke highly of her.  
  
"My dear, you flatter me." Mrs. Adler smiled at her husband, knowing full-well what he was trying to play and not falling for his flattery. "I know I was tempting once, but that was then. As the mother of five grown-up daughters, I ought to not dwell on any beauty but theirs."  
  
"Yes, but those women were hardly half as beautiful as you." He insisted, giving his wife a little grin.  
  
"Be that as it may, my darling, you must go and see Mr. Watson when he moves into Baskerville." Mrs. Adler insisted, trying to persuade him as she fluttered her lashes.  
  
"It is more trouble than I want, I assure you."  
  
"But think of your daughters!" Mrs. Adler cried, determined as ever to push her husband to see her point. "I only ask that you consider what a honor it would be for one of them."  
  
Mr. Adler looked at his wife with tired eyes as she continued to pursue the matter.  
  
"Sir William and Lady King are determined to go merely for Kate. And do not deny it, you know they visit no new-comers. Oh, Mr. Adler, you must go for it will be impossible for us to visit him if you do not."  
  
Mrs. Adler drew in another breath but Mr. Adler held up his hand to stop her. Knowing that another long-winded speech was surely to come, he decided it was best for his health and sanity if he didn't at least try to give her something.  
  
"You worry to much, my dear. I dare say Mr. Watson will be very glad to see you; and I will send a letter with you to assure him of my hearty consent to his marrying whichever he chooses of the girls: though I must throw in a good word for my little Irene."  
  
He  decided that a letter would be a fair compromise, so that he could stay at home while seeming there in spirit.  
  
And if Mrs. Adler would have consented to the notion, he knew not for his addition about praising his beloved Irene only irked his dear wife.  
  
"You will do no such thing. Irene is not better than her sisters and she's not half as beautiful as Mary, nor half so good-humoured as Molly. Yet you always prefer her."  
  
"They have none so much to recommend them." Mr. Adler admitted, shrugging off his wife's disapproval of his clear preference of Irene. "They're all silly and ignorant, like other girls; but Irene has the wit that they lack."  
  
"Mr. Adler, how can you abuse your own children in such a way!" Mrs. Adler cried,  her hand resting on her heart as she stared at him with disappointment. "You take delight in vexing me, with no compassion on my poor nerves." She insisted.  
  
He held up his hands once more and watched her warily for fear she would faint from overworking herself. "You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves they're old friends of mine after all, I've heard you mention them so often in connection with me these past twenty years at least."  
  
Mrs. Adler didn't seem to find his joke funny and waved her hand at him, scowling. "Ach! You do not know how I suffer."  
  
"Yes, but I hope you will get over it and live to see many young men of a hundred thousand a year come to the neighbourhood." He replied solemnly, nodding with a bowed head.  
  
"It will be of no us to us if twenty men come with a hundred thousand a year... Since you will not visit them." Mrs. Adler sneered, turning away from him.  
  
"If twenty men with a hundred thousand a year come to live here, I will visit them all." He smiled, moving to stand behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her head.  
  
Mr. Adler was so odd a mixture of quick parts, with sarcasm and wit and caprice, that not even 23 years had been long enough for his wife to understand his character for her mind was less difficult to understand. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information and uncertain temper. When she was unhappy, she insisted she was nervous and the purpose of her life was to see her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.


	2. The First Meeting of Many

Mr. Adler was among the first who paid a visit to Mr. Watson, for he had always intended to meet the man no matter how much he denied it to his wife. He had managed to keep his intentions quiet up until the night before his visit, his wife no longer bothering him with frequent requests that he go visit Mr. Watson. In fact, it was only until the night after Mr. Adler had paid a visit to Mr. Watson that he mentioned the trip.  
  
Deciding to have some fun in his life, he decided to make talk about such a visit rather vaguely.  
  
His second daughter, Irene, was busy embroidering a rose onto her umbrella when he suddenly spoke to her.  
  
"I hope Mr. Watson will like it, poppet." He smiled as she looked up from the needlework, smiling back at him. 'Poppet' had always been his nickname for her since she could talk, before it had been 'puppet' but Irene had only been a year and a half when she started to speak and she had subsequently tried to mimic her father's affection name; resulting in her saying 'poppet' every time he looked her way.  
  
Mr. Adler had declared it a blessing and adopted the new nickname in lieu of the old one with a fondness to his daughter.  
  
If it hadn't been clear before, Irene was his clear favourite daughter for no other member of the household, save for Mrs. Adler, had recieved a nickname from Mr. Adler who seemed to have no desire to give out anymore.  
  
No, 'poppet' was to be the only endearment from him regarding his daughters and though Irene felt a touch ashamed to be the only one with such a name, she was more than happy to know that her father loved her dearly.  
  
Mrs. Adler now, was watching her husband with beady eyes and what had lately been a permanent scowl, on her lips. "We aren't in a position to know what Mr. Watson does or does not like.." She reproached, rather resentful that others had called to see Mr. Watson while she had to sit at home. Her piercing gaze turned her daughter, as though she was one of the reasons Mr. Watson had decided not to go. "Since we are not to visit him."  
  
Irene, who was a tad used to her mother misplacing anger onto her whenever her elder sister Mary did something foolish and Irene was blamed for not stopping her. So, she smiled at her mother and continued to tug on the red thread. "But, you forget, mama," She began as she started to tie up the end of the thread. "That we shall meet him at the meetings. And, that Mrs. Turner has promised to introduce him to us."  
  
Mrs. Adler scoffed at the words before sighing as Irene snapped the thread in half with her teeth. "I've told you not to do that, Irene. Don't do it again. And as for Mrs. Long, I doubt she'll make good on the promise. She has two unmarried nieces of her own that she has to worry about. And as for her character, she is a selfish, hypocritical woman and I have no opinion of her."  
  
Mr. Adler had to hide a laugh at his wife's words. For a woman who had no opinion of another, Mrs. Adler definitely had some things to say about Mrs. Turner.  
  
When he had begun to breathe again, he leaned forward in his armchair and smiled. "Nor do I, my dear. And I'm glad that you no longer relying on her to help you."  
  
His wife was so bothered by his comment that she decided not to say another word but the need to speak was too great so she turned her attention onto her daughter.  
  
"Janine, stop coughing so much, for Heaven's sake! Have some compassion on my nerves." Mrs. Adler scolded You're tearing them to pieces."  
  
"Janine has no discretion in her coughs, she times them ill." Mr. Adler remarked, settling back in his chair and calculating when the perfect time to mention his visit would be.  
  
"I don't cough for my own amusement..." Janine sulked before watching Irene's fingers work. "When's your next ball going to be, Irene?"  
  
"Two weeks from tomorrow." Irene replied, working diligently on the rose's stem.  
  
"Aye, so it is!" Mrs. Adler cried, wringing her hands. "And Mrs. Turner doesn't come back until the day before the ball so it will be impossible for her to introduce him to us. She won't know him yet."  
  
Mr. Adler took the silence as his oppertunity and smiled at his wife. "Then, my dear, you shall have the advantage and introduce Mr. Watson to her instead."  
  
The meaning of the comment was lost on Mrs. Adler who continued to wring her hands, standing up from the couch and starting to pace the floor. "Impossible, Mr. Adler, impossible!" She flung her hands in the air and let out a cry. "Or have you forgotten that I don't know him either? How can you be so teasing?" She declared.  
  
"I applaud your circumspection. Two weeks is very little, indeed. For, one cannot know what a man really is in just two weeks. But, if we do not, then someone else will, such as Mrs. Long. She'll consider it an act of kindnesss, if you decline the office, I'll take it on myself."  
  
Truly he knew he shouldn't be enjoying this but she was so dramatic that he found it impossible not to.  
  
His daughters all stared at him as Mrs. Adler laughed. "Nonsense, nonsense!"  
  
Mr. Adler stood up and took a step towards him. "What can be the meaning of that emphatic shout? Do you consider the ways of introduction, and the severeness that is laid on them, as nonsense?" He knew, of course, what she meant but she was in such hysterics that he wanted to keep her on edge just a little longer. "I cannot agree with you on such things." His gaze turned to the daughter on the couch, who had been delved into a book before Mr. Adler and Mrs. Adler exchanged words. "What do you think of the matter, Anthea?"  
  
Anthea cleared her throat and opened her mouth only to say nothing. She did wish to say something very sensible but for the life of her, she didn't know how.  
  
Sensing the hesitation in his daughter, Mr. Adler spoke once more to give her some time to think about what she wanted to say.  
  
"While Anthea is adjusting her thoughts, let us return to Mr. Watson."  
  
"I am /sick/ of Mr. Watson!" Mrs. Adler cried as she sank back down into the couch and buried her face in her hands.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, my dear, but why didn't you tell me sooner?" Now this was the perfect time to reveal just what he had been doing that morning. "If I had known that, I wouldn't have dropped by to see him. It's quite unfortunate, but as I have actually met him, we cannot escape the acquaintance now."  
  
The surprise of the women was just what he wanted, though Mrs. Adler surpassed her daughters with her astonishment.  
  
When all the exclamations had died down, she was the first to speak that it was exactly what she had expected the whole time.  
  
"How good you are, my dear Mr. Adler! I knew I could persuade to do it. You love your girls too much to neglect such an acquaintance." She cried, bouncing in the chair. "Oh, I'm so happy!"  
  
She said nothing about the little joke he had played on her and so he knew that she was all right with what he had done.  
  
Mr. Adler moved to her and kissed her head before turning to Janine. "Now, Janine, you may cough as much as you want."  
  
He bowed his head to them all, winking at Irene before he headed out to retire in his bed; exhausted by the raptures of his wife.  
  
"Oh, what a marvelous father you have, girls!" Mrs. Adler decreed when the door was shut and she gathered all her daughters around her. "I don't know how you'll repay him for what he's done, or me either for that matter, but we all must." She clasped her hands together again for perhaps the dozenth time that night. "I can tell you right now that we will not make such acquaintances every day but for your sakes, we would do anything."


End file.
